Aaron Pierre exits Marvel's “Blade” movie: 'As the project evolved, I’m no longer part of that'

Mahershala Ali is still the only confirmed star of the upcoming MCU project about the superhero vampire hunter.

Marvel's Blade movie has lost a cast member. Actor Aaron Pierre told Variety over the weekend that he is no longer part of the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe film, which is set to star Mahershala Ali as the titular vampire hunter.

“Early on, there were conversations,” Pierre told Variety on the red carpet for the 55th NAACP Image Awards on Saturday. “As the project evolved, I’m no longer part of that."

Representatives for Pierre and Marvel Studios did not immediately respond to EW's request for additional comment.

Pierre still has another big Disney project on the books: He's set to star as the voice of the title role in Mufasa: The Lion King, reuniting him with director Barry Jenkins after their work together on The Underground Railroad. He also recently starred as Malcolm X on Genius: MLK/X.

Aside from Ali, who is still set to star as the half-vampire superhero originally played by Wesley Snipes, Blade has been a bit of a revolving door for talent. Bassam Tariq was initially announced as director, but departed the project in September 2022, two months ahead of when filming was supposed to start; he was replaced by Lovecraft Country's Yann Demange a few months later.

This chaos echoes Thunderbolts, another upcoming MCU project that has also signed and then lost big-name talent like Steven Yeun and Ayo Edebiri. Production on Blade was further delayed by last year's Hollywood labor strikes, but Ali told EW in December that he was confident about the future.

“I’m really encouraged with the direction of the project," Ali said then. "I think we’ll be back at it relatively soon.”

Blade is currently set for theatrical release on Nov. 7, 2025.

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